Why Do We Think As We Do About Clothing?

Have you ever looked back at pictures of you when you were a child, and someone else decided what you would wear? Did you like your clothes? Did you have a favorite piece of clothing, or outfit?

Often when we have opinions about clothing (ours or others’) we seem pretty sure that something is how we perceive it – “wrong”, “weird”, “strange”, “cool”, “sexy”, etc. But is it, really? Are we always right?

Think about what influences your opinions of clothes. Try to identify the cultural codes that drive your perceptions. Think about people who regularly wear the kinds of clothes that you wouldn’t. What do think their cultural influences might be?

Look at old pictures of yourself and your family. Did your clothes seem fine and comfortable then? Did they match your personal identity? How did your parents know how you perceived yourself as a young child? Or did they need to? Have your styles changed as your identity developed? Were there reasons other than your identity that affected your later clothing choices? What were they?

This project is designed to get to the core influences on your perceptions of dress. I have included a couple of articles to get you started.